July 2017

Posted by 42FordGPW under UncategorizedComments Off on Care of Stored Vehicles, Part One

The following is the first of a two part story on how to store your vehicles.

(conclusion tomorrow.)

I know it is picnic weather but it is never too early to think about storing your vehicle.

I know it is picnic weather but it is never too early to think about storing your vehicle. This article has been extracted from Military Maintenance for MB/GPW 1941-1945. Originally appearing in an issue of the WW2 Army Motors.

First came the ugly rumors – then, when a fearful little band of inspectors deployed throughout the field and returned with confirmation of the rumors, the authorities knew that the time for action had arrived.

The first stories merely reported the field as ‘utterly confused over what to do with vehicles in ‘limited storage’ -and this of course, was no cause for alarm.

But when reports came in of certain outfits running their stored trucks for about fifteen minutes daily to ‘charge the batteries, distribute lube throughout the engine, etc.: followed by a story of three separate and distinct organizations using mothballs to put their vehicles in storage*, the revision of 850-18 began, Running trucks for a few minutes or a few miles daily to keep ‘em in shape is strictly no good, You all know that for every gallon of gasoline burned, a gallon of water is produced. Well, a good part of this water makes it’s way into the crankcase – and while normally, it’s evaporated by the engine heat, running the trucks for only fifteen or so minutes never works up enough heat to evaporate the water. Consequently, it stays in the crankcase and forms sludge, acid and headaches.

Anyway, that’s the sort of thing that brought about the revision of AR 850-18 which will start to hit the field sometime in the near future. But in the meantime the first part of it dealing with Limited Storage of Vehicles has been okay-ed so we can’t think of any reason why we shouldn’t pass it on to you.

The following is a liberal translation of the sections with the title ‘General’ and ‘Limited Storage’. We’ll shoot you the rest of the revision on ‘Dead Storage’, as soon as we get aholt of it

GENERAL

Before sticking your vehicles into live or dead storage there are a couple of things you’ve got to prepare and provide for:

1. Storage site. Store your unused vehicles in closed or covered buildings. If no buildings are handy, the great outdoors will do –but in selecting a site, try to pick a smooth, and well-drained spot. Except when the tactical situation calls for concealment, parking under low hanging limbs of trees should be avoided. (Low-flying Tarzans, sharp twigs and birds, you know) .

2. Preparation for Storage. Before being tucked away, vehicles, their parts and equipment have to be thoroughly cleaned, lubricated and inspected. Do this according to W.D. Q.M.C. Form 260, dealing with technical inspection. And unless you have a good reason why not, the vehicle should be thoroughly repaired and put in good mechanical condition. If you can’t make repairs before storing, attach a tag to the steering wheel specifying the repairs needed, and send a written report of these items to the officer in charge of the vehicles. Finally, when your vehicles have been either repaired or tagged, your next step is to prepare them for either limited or dead storage. As we mentioned above, we’ve got the dope on ‘Limited Storage’ – ‘Dead Storage’ will come later.

3. Spacing vehicles in park. Don’t throw your vehicles on the lot just any old way. Put them close enough together to conserve space and provide plenty of shade for the tires – but space them with enough room between vehicles to allow for servicing and inspections. Maybe it’s fun to see how close together they’ll go, but it doesn’t make the job, say, of checking the batteries, any easier.

Severe Conditions

4. Severe conditions. Remember, these regulations are for normal and average conditions. Extreme temperatures, quick temperature changes, very wet or very dry climates, dust, salty spray, corrosive vapors from nearby industrial plants, or any other condition that might annoy a truck that’s sitting quietly minding its own business, calls for special protective measures, figure them out to meet your own circumstances.

During World War II pin-ups were a mainstay of Army life. Perhaps it helped keep the lonely GI connected with the “girls back home.” The subjects of the pin-ups were many. Some might be a recognizable movie star like say, Betty Grable and others may just be a painting of some unknown girl–representing the “All-American Girl”.

Many posters and prints are available on-line. Below is an example of just one of the hundreds available.

Posted by 42FordGPW under UncategorizedComments Off on Downshift Much?

You really need to know how to operate the WW2 jeep transmission.

It isn’t the strongest tranny box out in the woods…but it will do as long as you know what you are doing! So sit back and pay attention…

Do not try to down shift into 1st, unless the vehicle is basically at a stop. However, you could shift down to 2nd from 3rd. However, you should keep in mind the speeds recommended. You can see for the Intermediate gear (2nd) on the “Caution” plate that 41 MPH in high range (transfer case) is the highest recommended speed. Of course it also sez 60 MPH in high (3rd).

Looking at it another way based on the Willys MB/Ford GPW Speed Calculator if you were to get it into 2nd gear at 40.8 MPH you engine RPMs are calculated to be around 3700. That’s really pretty high as compared to say 41.4 MPH in 3rd with 2400 RPMs (much easier speed on your engine).

So slow your speeds down and then shift. Slowing down to just 30.9 MPH gets you into 2800 RPMs which is better. Drop it down to 25.4 MPH and you end up with 2300 RPMs (even better).

Basically you should neither over rev the engine for the speed you want to go at nor lug the engine (too few RPMs). That’s why we start off in 1st and work or way up to 3rd. While the jeep might be able to do it – it isn’t wise to lead off in 3rd from a dead stop.

Posted by 42FordGPW under UncategorizedComments Off on Carburetor Circuits Inter-dependency?

Inter-dependencies–what the heck is that? Well…read on… I know I had to.

Do you wonder about inter-dependencies? Me too!

a. Although the five circuits of the carburetor have been treated independently for the purpose of simplifying the explanation, a word of caution is advisable here as to the inter-dependency of the different circuits. If the float circuit is not up to standard, the supply of fuel for the operation of the low speed, high speed, and pump circuits will be affected, and hence the operation of all three circuits may be hampered. It has been pointed out that the operation of the low speed circuit does not cease when the high speed circuit starts to function. Similarly, in some cases, notably on units built for Chevrolet Motor Company, since 1934 there is an inter-dependency between the high speed and pump circuits. On these units the pump circuit delivers a small quantity of fuel at part throttle and higher engine speeds, although the throttle is held steady and the pump plunger is not in motion. This is called “pump bleed” or “pump pull-over,” and the unalterably designed feature of this pump permits it to discharge this fuel in the same manner as fuel is discharged from the high speed circuit. When the unit is properly serviced, this built-in feature will take care of itself.

b. The inter-dependency of the circuit is not emphasized to add technical confusion to the mind of the service man, but rather to show that, for the absolute precision operation, of which the carburetor is capable, all five circuits must be carefully serviced. No snap judgment should be made in diagnosing carburetor trouble, and no “favorite” should be played when circuits are serviced.

Maintenance and repairs are easy with the correct information. So don’t get all choked up while we look at the choke circuit!

CHOKE CIRCUIT.

a. Function. These carburetors employ a manual type choker illustrated in the figure above. When the choker is used, the mixture is enriched by cutting down the amount of air admitted through the carburetor. These carburetors use a choker valve with a semi-automatic feature, the choker is connected to the operating lever by a soft spring, the choker valve is also mounted off-center in the air horn. The incoming air tends to push the choker valve open (the longer section of the choker valve being on the lower side of the choker shaft), and the spring action tends to hold choker valve closed. Thus the. valve is allowed to “breathe” with the engine, which tends to lessen the sensitivity of the choker control. In addition to this feature, a poppet valve is provided in the valve to allow inward relief and hence lessen the danger of over-choking when the engine starts to run. The choker and throttle levers are connected by the choker link, which opens the throttle slightly during the choking period.